LAKE STEVENS – Lake Stevens celebrates the summer this weekend with Aquafest 2005 Under the Stars.
The annual community festival brings back many favorite activities and includes some new twists this year in the downtown area.
The arts and crafts fair includes 103 booths this year, more than the festival e has ver had, Aquafest secretary Tracy Shaw said.
Another returning event is the boat race, which debuted last year and was highly popular.
“It was so much fun,” Shaw said. “You spend not more than $50 to build a boat that’s powered by the wind. We pull them out into the lake and then the wind pushes them back to shore. It was hilarious.”
New this year is the Huggable Hunks competition.
In June, community members nominated 40 men who competed for a spot on the Huggable Hunks calendar. Twelve were selected to appear in the calendar, which will be available for sale at the festival’s information booth. The hunks will be in the grand parade and also will sign calendars at the VIP booth on Saturday. Proceeds help pay for next year’s Aquafest celebration.
Last year was the first time the community had an Aquafest float. Volunteer Sheribe Tollefson made life-sized cloth people – a man, woman and boy – nicknamed the Pod People. Last year, they were on water skis.
“We think they’re cute,” Shaw said. “We hope they’ll return every year on the Aquafest float.”
This year, they’ll be on a pontoon party boat that will be raffled off by the Lions Club (tickets are $5 each on Main Street) to benefit local charities and organizations. The float will be the joint project of the Lions, Kiwanis and Rotary clubs, the American Legion and the Greater Lake Stevens Chamber of Commerce.
Friday’s festival highlights include “Aquafest Idol” auditions, the children’s parade at 6 p.m., the Proud Pet Show at 7 p.m. at North Cover and a teen dance from 8 to 11 p.m. at the Boys &Girls Club.
On Saturday, activities begin with a firemen’s breakfast at 6 a.m. at the city fire station and end with the Port Gardner fireworks display at 10 p.m. in the North Cove.
In between, there will be a water ski tournament, a basketball tournament, 2K and 10K runs, a wakeboard tournament, the Rotary Diaper Dash, and the grand parade at 1 p.m. Other events include a lake swim, a pizza-eating contest, the Rain Gutter Regatta and a lighted boat parade.
Sunday begins with another firemen’s breakfast, the Port Gardner Car Show at Mount Pilchuck Elementary School, the Family Fun Fest, free interactive booths and a morning worship service, all at North Cove; the “Aquafest Idols” finals, a water-ski team exhibition, the Chalk It Up art project, the Rotary Club’s Duck Dash at 3 p.m., and the drawing for the Lake Stevens Lions party boat raffle near the post office.
Throughout the weekend, there will be arts and crafts, a library book sale, a kiddie carnival, carnival rides, and plenty of food with the Kiwanis beverage and eatery and the Bite of Lake Stevens.
More information on the festival is available at www. aquafest.org.
Reporter Cathy Logg: 425-339-3437 or logg@heraldnet.com.
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